Maternal Instincts
by Bee4ever
Summary: Arcee is a hardened femme warrior under the command of Optimus Prime. What happens when she finds an abandoned sparkling? Will she let someone else take care of the little one, or will her instincts take over?
1. Chapter 1

**This is a brand new story that I have adopted from Greendogg. This idea was just too cute, and I couldn't pass it up. Enjoy!**

It was early May in Jasper, Nevada, but it was already quite warm. Arcee was on her way to pick up Jack and take him to school. Driving at a modest speed, it wasn't long before she arrived at Jack's house. She waited for a few minutes, checking her chronometer, before calling Jack's cell phone. It rang a few times before a sleepy voice answered.

"Hello?" Jack mumbled.

"You'd better get a move on partner, or you'll be late for school again. You don't want to wind up in detention with Miko again, do you?" Arcee scolded. Jack looked at his alarm clock. Seeing it was 7:30 and school started at 8:00, he leapt out of bed, falling on the floor in the process.

"CRAP"! He yelled. "I'll be ready in ten minutes, Arcee!" He yelled, throwing his phone on the bed. He ran around his room, grabbing his clothes and quickly dressing before heading to the bathroom to take care of his morning hygiene. Having completed that, he grabbed his phone and backpack, making sure his homework was inside, and ran downstairs. Popping a piece of bread into the toaster, he waited for it to pop up before buttering it and running out to Arcee. He put his helmet on and hopped on, shoving the toast in his mouth.

"You know Jack, you wouldn't have to wolf your food down like that if you would get up on time."

"Man, Arcee, you sound just like my mom! I just fell asleep early and didn't set my alarm. You know it's not like me to run late. Thanks for waking me up though."

"Do I need to be your alarm clock from now on, Jack?" Arcee quipped.

"No thanks, Arcee. I can handle it on my own. You know, Arcee; the way you fuss at me and keep me on track, I'm sure you'd make a great mom. Have you ever wanted kids, Arcee?

"I would like to be a carrier someday, but not while the war continues. War is no place for a sparkling. Too much can happen. It's just not safe. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious, is all. What is a sparkling, by the way?"

"A sparkling is the Cybertronian term for what humans call a baby," she replied, pulling up to his school. "You have one minute before the bell rings. You'd better hurry, Jack!"

"Thanks again for the ride, Arcee! Jack said, running through the door. Turning on her hologram, Sadie, Arcee left the school parking lot to return to base. Noticing that her internal thermometer registered the outside temperature at ninety degrees already, she activated her cooling system for the ride. She decided to ride off road, even though she really wasn't built for it, just for fun. She was speeding over the uneven terrain, enjoying the wind whipping past her and cooling her somewhat, when a coyote ran out in front of her. She hit her brakes hard to try to avoid the animal, but her tires, more suited for driving on pavement, refused to give purchase on the dusty ground. Realizing she was going to hit the animal if she didn't do something soon, she transformed quickly, leapt over the coyote, and transformed back into her motorcycle alt mode. So relieved was she at having avoided a collision, she failed to notice a small rock in her path. It was just enough to throw her balance off and send her skidding into a nearby tree. The force of the collision sent her into stasis for a short time. As her optics fluttered open, she became aware of the pounding in her helm, and the pain in her back struts from where she struck the tree. Wincing, she realized one of her winglets was also bent. "Great," she groaned, rubbing her sore helm. "Ratchet's gonna kill me for being so careless!" Gingerly getting to her pedes, she tried to transform, and nearly screamed at the pain. Realizing transforming was out of the question, she was just about to call for a ground bridge when she heard a soft whimper coming from a nearby bush. Deciding to investigate, she cautiously approached the bush, hoping it wasn't a human. The last thing Team Prime needed was more humans being dragged into their war, but at the same time, she couldn't just turn away and leave a possibly injured human to die either. Reaching the bush, she carefully pushed the leaves apart and almost glitches at what she found. A tiny sparkling, still wet from the birthing, but wrapped in a thin but now damp blanket. It's optics opened, and seeing Arcee, began to wail loudly, it's tiny optics screwed shut and little fists flailing. Arcee looked at the little one for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then something clicked inside her, and she knew she needed to help this innocent little one. It would offline if she left it here. Gently picking up the tiny little one, she put it into her sparkling hold to help it stay warm, the infant quieting almost immediately. She immediately called for a ground bridge. Within moments, a swirling blue and green portal appeared before her. She wasted no time entering the portal, albeit slowly, as she was still in pain, but moved as quickly as she could. Entering the base, she headed straight for Ratchet. Seeing her wincing in pain, and the many dents and scratches on her frame, he grabbed his favorite wrench, preparing to whack her upside the helm.

"What in Primus' name did you do this time, femme? I have better things to do than repair you because you were careless again!" He roared.

"If you must know, I hit a rock and skidded into a tree after almost hitting a coyote. But I'm not the one who's important right now!" Having said that, she opened her chest plates and removed the sparkling. Ratchet's mouthplate hung open in shock at the sight of the little one.

"Primus, Arcee! Where did that sparkling come from?"

"Well Ratchet, when a mech and a femme love each other very much, they get bonded…"

"Very funny femme! I know where sparklings come from! I want to know where THIS ONE came from!" Ratchet yelled.

"Calm down, Ratchet! I was just kidding! I found it wrapped in that blanket in a bush near the tree that I crashed into." Arcee said, watching Ratchet as he examined the little one.

"Well, first of all, you can stop calling the sparkling 'it'. This little one is a femme. She looks to be perfectly healthy, but her internal temperature is lower than I'd like. I want you to keep her in your sparkling hold as much as possible until she warms up. Only take her out for feeding. I will give you some sparkling grade energon to feed her, but be warned. If she refuses to drinking, you will have to nurse her," Ratchet said, picking up the tiny femme and handing her to Arcee.

"Whoa! Wait a minute, Ratchet! I'm not her carrier. I don't know the first thing about caring for a sparkling. I can't take care of her!"

"I suggest you learn quickly, as the little one has imprinted on you and thinks you are her carrier. I will send you a data packet with everything you need to know about sparkling care." With that, he sent the information to Arcee.

"And what do you mean I might have to nurse her? In case you haven't noticed, Ratchet, I'M NOT PRODUCING ENERGON! I would have to have just had a sparkling to do that!" She yelled.

"Calm down, before you upset the sparkling, Arcee. If you read the data packet I sent you, you will find instructions for activating your feeding protocols so you can produce energon if you need to. Now, let's see what you did to yourself. Get up on the berth so I can check you out, and for Primus sake, put that femmeling in your sparkling hold!

 **Well, here's the first chapter! Did you like it? Let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much to all of you that faved, followed, and reviewed this story! It meant the world to me to see how many of you liked this story. In this chapter, we get to see how well Arcee adapts to being a carrier, and how well team Prime adapts to its newest arrival! A special thanks and shout out to Airreon Princess for the name of the sparkling and to Greendogg as well, for some awesome story ideas! You guys rock! On to the chappie!**

Arcee sat quietly while Ratchet finished her repairs. She used the time to think about the drastic turn her life had taken. It seemed like one moment she was happily kicking Decepticon tailpipe, the next she had a femmeling dependent solely upon her for care. Not exactly the way she envisioned her life would go, but then she never thought she'd be guardian to a human, either; and that turned out ok. She figured she'd better open the data packet Ratchet had dent her so she would know how to take care of the little one. Quickly opening the packet, she was shocked to learn just how much care a sparkling needed. Feeding every four hours, but on demand feeding preferable? Waste tank changes? Ewww! Sparkling proofing her quarters as well as the whole base? That would be a huge undertaking! And she would have to keep the little one with her at all times until she could regulate her own core temperature, which would be a whole month! She had to help Team Prime, and it was far too dangerous to take a sparkling on a mission! What was she going to do? And what if she had to nurse the little one? She quickly downloaded the information necessary to activate her energon production protocols, and then almost glitched at all the things that could happen to a nursing femme. Energon dripping at a moment's notice? Energon lines clogging if the feeding pouches aren't drained properly? Arcee's helm swam from all the information. Just then, Ratchet announced he was finished, and she was free to go. Arcee hopped down from the med berth and started to leave, but stopped quickly and turned to face Ratchet.

"I don't think I'm cut out to take care of this little femmeling, Ratchet. I mean, I'm a warrior, not a carrier. How am I going to take care of her and fulfill my obligations to Team Prime as well? You and I both know it's not safe to take her on a mission, or even on patrol, and we don't have many warriors as it is. We can't afford to lose even one of us. Why can't you take care of her? You rarely leave the base as it is. You would be the logical choice, not me."

"Be that as it may, the little one has imprinted on you, and thinks you are her carrier. She will accept no other in your place. Have you chosen a designation for her yet? We can't go on calling her 'little one' forever."

Arcee shot Ratchet a dirty look. "I haven't as of yet, because I didn't want anything to do with her in the first place, but I guess I'm stuck with the little scraplet now, so I might as well." Huffing, she thought for a moment. "I'm drawing a blank, Ratchet. I've never named anything before, not even a glitchmouse. Any suggestions?"

"I'm too busy to waste time in such idleness. Let me know when you come up with a name so I can enter it into the database." With that, Ratchet turned and walked back to his computer and resumed what he'd been working on when Arcee arrived.

Arcee felt the little femmeling squirming in her sparkling hold and immediately opened her chestplates. The little one tumbled out and immediately grabbed Arcee's digit and began sucking on it. Realizing there was no energon to be had, she began to wail loudly. Arcee accessed the data packet and realized she was hungry. She grabbed a bottle of low grade energon that Ratchet had supplied her with and quickly placed the soft metal nipple in the sparkling's mouth. She immediately quieted and began suckling greedily. Just then, Arcee heard a couple of familiar engines approach. A yellow and black Urbana 500 and a green SUV pulled into the base and screeched to a stop and their doors opened, letting out a teenaged young man, a preteen boy and a teenaged girl. Arcee's back was turned, so none of them saw the sparkling at first. The teenaged young man, Jack Darby, spoke first.

"Hey Arcee, what gives? Why did I have to ride with Bumblebee again? No offense, Bee."

"None taken," he bleeped.

"Sorry Jack, but a little something came up," she quipped as she turned to let them see the tiny sparkling. The bottle now empty, she put it down and put the sparkling against her shoulder and patted her backplates until a release of air was heard. Everyone's eyes grew wide at the sight of the sparkling.

"Is that a-a sparkling?" Bulkhead stuttered. "I didn't know you were carrying! Who's the sire? Is it Ratchet? Optimus? Don't tell me it's Bee!"

"No, it's a scraplet! Of course it's a sparkling, Bulkhead!" She snapped, smacking him upside the helm. "And no one here is the sire! I was not carrying. I found her after I dropped Jack off at school. Hold her for a minute so I can take this bottle to be cleaned." Handing her gently to Bulkhead, she picked up the bottle and walked to the sanitizing station and placed it inside. Turning around, she watched Bulkhead hold the tiny sparkling carefully in his huge hands. The little one seemed content for a few moments, but before long, her tiny faceplate turned up in a grimace. Just then, Bulkhead felt something wet on his hands and chassis, where he held the sparkling close to him.

"Ewww! She lubricated on me!" He squealed, handing the now soaked and wailing sparkling to Bee before running off to the washracks, leaving Jack,

Miko, and Raf in hysterics. Bee wasted no time finding the supplies he needed, expertly cleaning the little one up and changing her waste tank. "There now, all clean," he beeped, handing the now calm and sleepy sparkling to Arcee.

"How in Primus' name did you know what to do, Bee?"

"It was easy. I had to sparkling sit my baby sister while my sire and carrier worked, before the war broke out," He bleeped. "She's so cute! What's her designation?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't been able to come up with one yet," she replied.

"What about Shimmer? Her armor shimmers in the light," he beeped. Arcee thought for a minute, looking at the little one in her arms.

"I like it! Her designation is Shimmer! With a designation like that, she may grow up to be a great scout like you, Bee." Arcee said, looking down at the now sleeping sparkling.

 **That's a wrap for chapter two! Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!**


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